Batman Beats Winter Blues

Laughing at Epic Films One Trilogy at a Time

Charlie Ross’ One-Man Dark Knight: A Batman Parody will be performed Feb. 18-21, but Charlie won’t be wearing a mask. He doesn’t need one to play every character from all three Dark Knight films.

When Charlie Ross created his One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, he was holding onto the same fandom as his eight-year-old self, who saw Star Wars: A New Hope approximately 400 times. For his One-Man Lord of the Rings, Charlie again was tapping into “the simplicity of childhood,” he wrote in a 2010 issue of Canadian Theatre Review. “JRR Tolkien’s books had greatly influenced my childhood … [and] when I saw the epic tale had been reborn as cinematic poetry [where] you could feel the love and passion for the source material,” he knew it was the next trilogy to tackle. But Charlie took longer to find a third trilogy to complete his own trilogy of trilogies.

After seeing Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and anticipating The Dark Knight Rises, Charlie thought he had his next creation set. But the shooting in a Colorado theatre at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises marred his enthusiasm. “I’ve always had a childlike exuberance for the movie experience,” Charlie explains. “I had a hard time removing that experience from the movie. It was difficult to reconcile.”

Eventually Charlie was able to go back to the idea of condensing the three films into his trademark show style. “There’s less preciousness in this show than in Star Wars or Lord of the Rings for me,” Charlie says. “I’m having a lot more fun with this show than I thought I would. I love being a piss-ant. And I love working on something new.”

What isn’t new about Charlie’s process is working with TJ Dawe, who dramaturged this show as well as his others. The pair have known each other for more than 20 years. At university they were often paired in drama classes—and the origin of Charlie’s Star Wars commenced during a Frisbee game where they each had to quote lines from the classic films.

“We put our fun hats on to come up with something new and exciting,” Charlie says of One-Man Dark Knight: A Batman Parody. And while the Batman films aren’t as well known as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, Charlie wants to “draw out the memory of experiencing the films.”

“I know people will need to be prompted more. I have to do more work to indicate what’s happening—and I don’t want it to be an inside joke between me and the people who know the films as much as I do,” Charlie says. “I want to make people laugh.”

While Charlie would love if his audiences see Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy in advance, he points out that with this series the most interesting aspect is the characters. “They’re flawed—especially the good ones. They make bad choices or act rashly and suffer for it … The characters all experience, and we witness, moments of doubt and/or failure and we get to understand more about them by how they choose to rise up.”

“And I’ve tried to make it as irreverent as possible,” Charlie laughs.

On January 27, 40 of Vancouver’s young entrepreneurs and business leaders, along with their friends and colleagues, convened at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel to celebrate their induction to Business in Vancouver’s annual Forty Under 40 Awards. Among them was the Fringe’s Executive Director, David Jordan.

David (giving the thumbs up), surrounding by Fringe Board members, at the Forty Under 40 gala.

“It was a real honour to have the Fringe and also arts and the non-profit sector recognized by the business community,” David says of his win. “The awards ceremony was a great opportunity to connect with other business leaders with whom I may not have crossed paths with otherwise. It’s so interesting to get a small window into what drives people to go to work every day. Hopefully we can develop connections that will go beyond the awards and work together to make Vancouver a better place to work and live!”

Since 1989, Business in Vancouver has been providing information and networking opportunities to businesses operating in and around Vancouver. 2015 marks the 26th year the publication has been celebrating young lawyers, CEOs and the like—who also go beyond business by contributing to their communities.

David was selected because of the Fringe’s success since he took charge in 2005—when the Fringe had a $100,000 deficit! Under his leadership, the Fringe has eliminated its deficit, doubled attendance, and quadrupled sponsorship revenues. But David gives a lot of credit to his team, which has also grown to now include seven year-round staff (when he started, it was just three people!).

Just a taste of what Vancouver has to offer in the way of Theatre

PostSecret: The Show February 17-March 5 Firehall Arts Centre
Back for an encore presentation, Fringe alumni, Kahlil Ashanti and TJ Dawe partnered with Justin Sudds and Frank Warren, the creator of the PostSecret blog, to devise this multimedia show made of personal secrets from anonymous people. This time round, fellow Fringe alumni, Sam Mullins is part of the cast! Use coupon code FRINGESTARS to get $5 off any ticket to performances from February 23-28!

Bright Blue Future February 19-March 5 Pacific Theatre
Written by Sean Harris Oliver, whose play, The Fighting Season, won the Georgia Straight’s Critics Choice Award and the Cultchivating the Fringe Award at the 2015 Vancouver Fringe, Bright Blue Future explores a substance-fueled evening in the lives of four 20-somethings navigating feelings of inadequacy, sexual tension, and fear of the impending future.